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A combined fuzzy‐SEM evaluation approach to identify the key drivers of the academic library service quality in the digital technology era: An empirical study
Author(s) -
La Fata Concetta Manuela,
Lupo Toni
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.903
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 2330-1643
pISSN - 2330-1635
DOI - 10.1002/asi.23878
Subject(s) - service (business) , computer science , conceptual model , key (lock) , quality (philosophy) , service quality , fuzzy logic , service design , empirical research , knowledge management , structural equation modeling , interface (matter) , service delivery framework , database , mathematics , business , artificial intelligence , marketing , computer security , machine learning , philosophy , statistics , epistemology , maximum bubble pressure method , parallel computing , bubble
A conceptual model of the Academic Library (AL) service quality is hypothesized in the present article, and then validated and analyzed by a novel evaluation approach. Specifically, the conceptual model integrates the fundamental attributes of the canonical AL service together with those more relevant of the new and widely considered AL Electronic Service (e‐services). As concerns the evaluation approach, it incorporates the Fuzzy Sets Theory (FST) so as to deal with the students' uncertainty over their own judgments on the AL service quality and a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to validate the conceptual model and to determine the key drivers of the AL service quality. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is proved by an empirical study concerning the AL of the Polytechnic School of the University of Palermo (Italy). Data collected via a survey involving more than 600 students are used, and the key drivers of the AL service quality are found out. Particularly, the obtained results reveal that Collections and materials represents the main driver of the AL service quality followed by Infrastructure and Access to the service , whereas Staff plays the fundamental role of interface between AL service aspects and students' needs and necessities.